Gateway Arch

Saint Louis, Missouri

After the Gateway arch was completed, the creeper derricks lowered themselves down the same tracks they had used to reach the top. As they descended, workers removed the tracks about them.

The Gateway Arch, or Gateway to the West, is an arch that is the centerpiece of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis, Missouri. It was built as a monument to thewestward expansion of the United States. At 630 feet (192 m), it is the tallest man-made monument in the United States, Missouri’s tallest accessible building, and the largest architectural structure designed as a weighted or flattened catenary arch.

The arch is located at the site of St. Louis’ foundation,on the west bank of the Mississippi River where Pierre Laclède, just after noon on February 14, 1764, told his aide, Auguste Chouteau, to build a city.

The Gateway Arch was designed by Finnish American architect Eero Saarinen and structural engineer Hannskarl Bandel in 1947. Construction began on February 12, 1963, and ended on October 28, 1965, costing US$13 million at the time (approximately $90,500,000 today). The monument opened to the public on June 10, 1967.

– Wikipedia entry

The church – The St. Louis’ historic Old Cathedral, known officially as the Basilica of Saint Louis, King of France, is one of the world’s most honored churches. It stands on a tiny plot on the downtown riverfront near the south leg of the Gateway Arch. The original log chapel was dedicated over 200 years ago in 1770.

Heritage of the West

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